


I'm Feeling You, Down in My Bones

by Rollingjules



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bad Flirting, Doctor Shiro (Voltron), Doctor/Patient, Hangover, M/M, TrickOrSheith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:40:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27191185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rollingjules/pseuds/Rollingjules
Summary: Keith wakes up after Lance’s Halloween party with a hangover and a splitting pain in his stomach. His trip to the ER yields much more than answers, but will his gamble with his new sawbones pay off?
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 91





	I'm Feeling You, Down in My Bones

**Author's Note:**

> This one's for Day 3 of Trickorsheith, the Treat side prompt Skeleton! It was a blast coming up with a way to make skeletons funny/cute, lol, and I hope I succeeded. Check out @trickorsheith on twitter or the #trickorsheith feed for more amazing Halloween sheith goodness!

What surprises him about waking up is the fact that it wasn’t the hangover that did it. Sure, he feels like absolute dogshit, but the sharp abdominal pain that ripped him right out of a weird dream about alien fighter geese doesn’t feel related.

Keith frowns, orienting himself. He remembers the Halloween party and the, in hindsight, _really_ stupid shots contest with Lance. But he was hepped up on about a lifetime’s worth of sugar and chocolate, he’d felt invincible. It didn’t help that Lance had been practically insufferable about it, Keith felt that he’d honestly done the whole party a favor by sacrificing himself to keep the host occupied. But here in the present everything was a lot more regrettable in the – ouch, truly piercing – light of day.

He sits up to pull his curtains closed and a few things happen at once. The sharp pain moves slightly in his gut, traveling a minute but still agonizing distance. It is joined by several other, new sharp pains in his stomach. The sudden urge to vomit is predictable, given what he spent last night doing, but unfortunate regardless. He grits his teeth through the pain of standing up and rushes unsteadily to the bathroom.

As he throws the lid and seat up Keith’s last thought before emptying his stomach is relief that he still cleaned the bathroom before leaving for the party last night. Without fear, he braces his chin on the edge of the bowl as he heaves and gags, a miserable ten minutes.

One look tells him he’s headed to the ER.

An hour or so later, Keith is holding the offending object in a plastic baggie as he waits in a too-bright exam room. _Why do they bring you in so long before the doctor?_ he thinks, _Isn’t that a waste of space? And time? It’s not an interrogation._ At least, he hopes it won’t be. He’ll already have to go through the embarrassment of explaining why he’s here.

It’s another six minutes of fidgeting to minimize his discomfort before the doctor opens the door. But, Keith determines in an instant, for him he’d gladly wait a lifetime. Probably more.

He looks more like he belongs on a hospital drama than in a real hospital. His chest and arms are broad and muscled, his eyes a stormy grey. _Oh_ , he thinks, _he’s got a facial scar like me_. Keith is honored to have anything in common with him. His white hair should make him look older, but it suits him somehow. Keith realizes he is still _very much hungover_ when the stray thought of _I want to lick his eyebrows_ passes through his brain.

This is about to be _much_ more embarrassing than he’d accounted for.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Shirogane. So, what brings you in today?” the gorgeous doctor asks. Keith is in heaven, this is the best ‘worst pain he’s felt in his life’ by far if it’s brought him here, to this man.

“Um,” he responds, eloquent as always. _Fuck me and my stupid life_ , thinks Keith. He holds up the plastic zipper baggie guiltily while he collects his thoughts. “I thew this up earlier. I, uh… don’t think that’s all of ‘em.”

He went through all this with the nurse. He knows why the doctor is asking, but it doesn’t make it any easier to have to admit to his own drunken stupidity a second time _and_ to a handsome man the likes of which he didn’t think existed outside of red-carpet awards shows.

The doctor rolls over in his office chair to take the bag from him gently, taking a closer look at the object inside.

“…Is this a glass pebble?” The question is more confused than it is judgmental.

“Yeah,” Keith says with no small amount of self-directed exasperation, “The decorative kind. I got almost blackout drunk at a Halloween party last night. I remember eating a lot of – well, a lot of what I _thought_ were hard candies, but obviously not.”

“Well,” the doctor says, smiling in a way that is purely professional but still utterly devastating, “When we finish up in here you’ll hop on over to Radiology and see if an x-ray can’t give us a better idea of what we’re working with.”

The x-ray is uncomfortable, the heavy weight of the protective smock an irritating reminder of how physically weak he feels. He knows the radiologist doesn’t know anything about his situation, he _knows_ that, but he still balks as she attends him and gets him set up. He’s a walking embarrassment and it’s eating him alive.

Fortunately, it’s not long before he’s back in the blessed exam room that connects him to Dr. Shirogane, however briefly. When he comes back in, a winning smile on his face, Keith can’t help but smile weakly back.

“So. I took a look while they were uploading, but let’s go through it together, shall we?”

Doing anything together with him is a gift from god. Dr. Shirogane pulls over the other chair in the room to stand next to his own in front of the computer. When he pats the seat with a reassuring smile, Keith thinks he might die. The trip from the exam table to the chair three feet away is a painful one, but one he’d gladly make a hundred times over for the opportunity to sit so close to him.

With a few mouse clicks, Dr. Shirogane has his x-rays pulled up on the monitor. He pulls a pen out of his shirt pocket (Keith has never felt so positively about pocket protectors) to use as a pointer. Keith’s not sure what he expected to see on his x-ray, but he’s somewhat surprised to see a whole collection of little shapes in his stomach and small intestine.

“Oh wow. I wasn’t sure they would show up.”

Dr. Shirogane laughs lightly. It’s the best sound Keith has ever heard, a balm to his hangover-addled brain. “Yeah, glass is radiopaque. So you can see here where they’ve started to travel, which is what’s causing the vomiting and the discomfort. The good news is, in terms of swallowed objects these are pretty tame, they’re smooth and round and smaller than a quarter. Which is really the best-case scenario, honestly. Usually it’s legos.”

He kindly doesn’t mention the part where people who swallow legos are usually under five years old, and Keith appreciates that. This experience has definitely made him reevaluate his own estimation of his maturity.

Dr. Shirogane gives him a prescription for naproxen to help with the pain and discomfort, which Keith tucks into his wallet for use on his way home.

“On your way out, schedule a follow-up in three days. Everything should pass through your system by the end of, hm, I’d say tomorrow, since you ate them yesterday, but we should make sure nothing’s causing a blockage or getting tangled up anywhere. Don’t eat anything too adventurous and you should be fine.” He’s smiling, but it’s kind.

He’s an angel.

The x-rays are still pulled up on the screen, drawing Keith’s eyes over Dr. Shirogane’s shoulder. A grin curls its way slowly over Keith’s face, drawn out by the doctor’s smile and Keith’s attraction. He’s filled with gratitude that he’s not dying, that he didn’t do something so stupid he’s going to have serious life-altering consequences. He’s almost giddy with relief. Later, months later even, Keith will blame the pain and the hangover for what he says next. Really the only thing he has to blame is his lack of any shame, because at this point what could he do to make it worse?

“So, now that you’ve seen my bones, mind if I jump yours?”

At first, Dr. Shirogane’s blank face makes Keith think maybe he didn’t say it out loud. But a bright red flush quickly overtakes his face, down his neck into the collar of his button-down shirt and all the way to his ears. It’s exhilarating knowing he did that, and Keith’s smile turns wondrous.

The doctor clears his throat.

“Alright Mr. Kogane, I’ll see you in three days. Take it easy until then, no heavy exercise and _no more alcohol,_ alright?”

“Can’t wait,” Keith replies almost smugly.

Five sobering hours later Keith will realize what he said and want to disappear off the face of the earth. It’s a good thing he took the bus, he wasn’t hungover. He was _still drunk_.

Three days later he returns for his follow-up with Dr. Shirogane, contrite and nervous about having to face him again. There’s no sign of him in the office as Keith is weighed and x-rayed. During the pre-check with the nurse there’s no judgmental look or stern talking-to, but that’s almost worse. Ready for the other shoe to drop, Keith spends the wait sweating it and mentally composing his apology. It seems to take ages for the door to finally open, but when Keith’s handsome physician steps in he’s just as cheerful as he was last time.

“How are you feeling today, Mr. Kogane? Any problems?”

_How is he so perfect?_

“No, not really. The prescription helped, I feel fine now. Anything on the x-ray?” Keith keeps it simple, wanting to get the medical stuff out of the way before he has to grovel for forgiveness and forget why he’s actually here.

Dr. Shirogane pulls up the images from three days ago and today, doing a side-by-side comparison. “Everything looks good here, you seem to have passed everything just fine. Any pain when you void your bowels?”

Keith’s no doctor. “What?”

Dr. Shirogane smiles, a hint of tired exasperation just barely detectable in his eyes. It makes him seem more human, although Keith feels guilty at having to make him explain.

“Does it hurt to poop?”

Oh. Yeah, the clinical stuff is definitely better.

“No, everything seems fine.” He studiously avoids breaking eye contact, because he’s not in middle school and this is serious, he’s _not_ uncomfortable talking about his bathroom activities with the most handsome man he’s ever seen. This visit is just as much about proving that he is a mature, decent person as it is his follow-up exams.

“Good to hear. I think it’s safe to say you’re good to go, then, though I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you to think about changing your drinking habits.”

He looks like he’s about to say something else, but a better opportunity isn’t going to come around. Keith forges ahead. He schools his voice into something serious, professional.

“Actually, about that. I wanted to apologize for… what I said the last time I was here. It was inappropriate.” _At least I can escape after this, once he leaves he’ll probably have other patients to see. Thank god,_ Keith thinks. He doesn’t think he could handle having to see him while he handles the copay for his own stupidity.

Dr. Shirogane nods, a little pink in the face, but he looks thoughtful. “Don’t worry about it. Between anesthesia and pain narcotics I’ve heard worse,” he smiles, being overly generous and proving once again that he is too perfect to be real. He’s like a saint. Keith wouldn’t mind worshiping _him_ , though.

Unsure of what to say that isn’t too much, Keith just nods back at him. “Gotcha.”

He’s not expecting the handshake the doctor pulls him into, but his touch is more than welcome. Keith’s lucky the man’s good sense of humor about the whole debacle has helped him avoid a pummeling. When the handshake ends, Dr. Shirogane turns back to the counter and quickly jots something down on a bit of Keith’s paperwork. When he hands over the stack of papers, there’s a ten-digit number for what Keith assumes is most likely Alcoholics Anonymous. _Yeah_ , he thinks, _I deserved that_.

“In case of emergency, if you need to reach me outside of our hours.”

Keith’s head jerks up to look questioningly at him, and finds Dr. Shirogane staring back. He looks pointedly at the paperwork in Keith’s hands, then back to Keith. His face is still a little pink.

Keith’s face isn’t far behind.

“O-oh. Right, of course. Thanks.” He doesn’t know how he landed this, but he’s not going to question it. He slips the papers carefully into his bag before standing. Dr. Shirogane is straightening up the jars of tongue depressors and cotton balls, swaps them with the box of tissues. There’s a bit of tightness Keith can see in his shoulders, like he’s nervous. Looking like he does, Keith cannot for the life of him imagine why, though he suspects it probably (definitely) _is_ against policy to give out your personal number to drunk-ass patients who flirt with you at work.

“Thanks for your time, doctor.” he says as he stands. He slings his bag over his shoulder and waves, but feels awkward immediately as they’ll both have to leave the room anyway.

Clearing his throat, Dr. Shirogane stands and holds the door open for Keith to slip past him. Keith mumbles quick _thanks_ as he steps out into the hallway before he heads to the front desk.

_hey, this is keith from today. is this TS?_

It’s far from a quippy one-liner, but he needs to know he hasn’t misinterpreted the doctor’s intentions. That and give him some deniability, he feels like outright asking “is this Dr. Shirogane” is both too bound to get him in trouble and risky if it’s a wrong number.

When his phone dings a few minutes later, Keith swipes it off the table instantly.

_Hey, yeah it’s me. You can call me Shiro btw_

_oh, cool._

_So… coffee?_

The excitement that bubbles up in Keith’s chest is unusual. He’s not usually the _get asked out on dates_ type, especially not after he’s made a huge ass of himself in front of the person he had in mind. He smiles as his phone, typing out his response.

_yeah, coffee sounds good. <3_

**Author's Note:**

> Tfw the doctor is handsome and ur a dumb fool, lmfao, that's happened to me irl before. I love seeing your comments and reactions, feel free to yell at me lol! You can also find me on twitter as @lioslegbelts. Halloween is almost here, are you guys excited???


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